Paint it a Different Color
by Dreamingfishy
Summary: Looking forward to something is quite a waste of time, isn't it? You spend your thoughts on something that could appear to be real, but turns out to be a figment of your imagination. I've learned that you should wait for something to come to you instead of dreaming. If it's all reality, it'll stay. The things that you build up hopes for...They're always going to ruin you.
1. 1) Cold and alone

_Welcome to a human AU IceSey fic :) This adorable pairing certainly needs more love. So here, have some 3 I will be using human names and occasionally nation nicknames. If you have any questions concerning who is who, don't be afraid to ask :) I don't bite. (And there will be mild swearing, nothing much at all really) Please, enjoy ^_^_

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**Paint it a Different Color**

**Chapter 1: **Cold and alone

Winter has always been white.

Snow covered all of the rocks and the glaciers seemed to get colder. Plenty of birds felt the need to head off with their families, so that they wouldn't freeze themselves. Traffic slowed and people without cars were forced to trudge the snow in those thick heavy coats and gloves. Before it there's autumn, where the sky turns dark one day and cloudless the next. As it progresses, the leaves on whatever trees are here fall and crumple, and the air around my lips begin to fill with white clouds when I breathe.

Summer...its okay. The sun comes in higher than the previous season and additional heat from the volcanoes usually keep everything fairly warm. The grass grows a bright soft greens and the animals around are jumping everywhere. Though it is pleasant, I'm not the one to enjoy the sun very much.

And lastly spring, along with its name, brings back the sun and the birds. Volcanoes that litter the island keep warming the ground beneath my feet. The sky stays a drizzly gray and leaf storms in the weather throughout the week.

It was the beginning of the rainy season when I found her.

I walked along the rocky cliffs by the ocean. Trying hard not to think about my dumb family or school. I always and to the grey shore to relax, but that day I was built up of pressure and steam.

I sat on the driest rock that was close to the lapping water, and watched it churn against the opposing solids. Each light pound a wave would make against the rocks I could just barely feel through is rough surface. Grudgingly I picked up a few pebbles in my hand and swirled their edges around my fingers. There were four of them, each a different color and different pattern than the others. My first closed around them and I drew out the biggest rock. I threw it into the air, seeing how far my annoyance could blow it.

"One for my stupid cousins." I watched it splash into the dark water.

"One for my stupid school." Another stone was thrown, this time further.

"One for my stupid brother." I raised my voice and chucked the rock as far as I could. I watched it sail, almost hitting a flying seagull in the distance. Sighing I brought my knees to my chest and looked at the last rock. It was white, with flecks of something reflective that shimmered rainbow colors in the little bit of sunlight that poked through the clouds. I stared at it, and then tossed it carelessly into the water by my white boots.

"And one for my stupid self." The ripples continued on out before being slapped away by a small wave.

I sat on the rock for a while, hugging my knees and resting my forehead on the bones. I continued to fume and flame inside. College was draining my wallet. I'd probably have to move from the apartment and into a dorm soon. My older brother is still trying to get me to move in with him. Lukas was always acting as though I needed care. I was a delicate porcelain doll in his eyes. Even after moving to Húsavík to continue college, he tried to help me do everything. I'm not even going to think about my cousins, they were always either tolerating or fighting each other. When Lukas was drawn into Mathias and Berwalds' arguments, I slowly dragged myself away. It didn't bother them one bit. Better for everyone I suppose.

I had always dreamed of moving away and finally being on my own. But looking forward to something is quite a waste of time, isn't it? You spend your thoughts on something that could appear to be real, but turns out to be a figment of your imagination. I've learned that you should wait for something to come to you. If it's all reality, it'll stay. The things that you build up hopes for...They're always going to ruin you.

I growled to myself and looked up to the grey-blue sky where the seagulls had been. Their squawking had been moved to a small group elsewhere. I know as much that when there's a congregation of the dang birds, there's food. And a lot of it.

Slowly, I stood to my feet and brushed off my brown pants, tucked neatly into calf-high boots. I reached from rock to rock though I wasn't worried about why the gulls had come together. I don't know why I started to pick up the pace as I heard them closer in my ears. My boots clicked each time I landed on a damp rock and only once was my balance lost. I waved my arms back and forth, hoping to dear lord that I didn't fall into the icy dark water. Finally pausing and regaining my foot composure, I noticed my heart speed was quite high. Was it the sudden loss of balance? Possibly, but each time another gull squawked, I felt myself getting pulled closer to the edge.

'_Congregations are normal. Why am I so worked up over this?_' I thought. Something over by the damn birds was edging me forward. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Hey! Let go!" I stopped moving. "Beat it!" I stared at a rather large boulder in my view of the seagulls and that voice. To my ears, it was most certainly feminine. They were sweet; though fire against the dumb birds. She carried an accent I wasn't familiar with. Almost like from somewhere in Europe.

Suddenly my heart started pounding. I gripped the white shirt above mentioned organ. What the fuck was with my ticker? It decided that random moments were the correct time to spontaneously start thumping. It was just a girl being slightly annoyed by some dumb birds. That's all.

I climbed up to the boulder and looked over the rugged top. What I saw made me want to let go of the damn thing and hit the ground full on. There was an old tide pool, filled long ago with soft silt and sand. The congregation was there.

Along with someone who wasn't quite a girl.

I stared at her.

On the tinted white sand lay a human with a fish tail. The girl's body made my breathing heavy and my palms sweaty. Her hair was dark brown, long, soaked, and pulled into two long ponytails by red ribbon. She wore a blue top that looked like fabric but showed her stomach and shoulder. This person had tanned from the sun skin, but melted into these bright blue scales around her waist. I had a hard time tearing my eyes away from the sky colored luminous scales. My breath hitched and I found myself huffing out air that I didn't know I was holding.

As I stared, I lost feeling in my sweating hands. The grip I had on the ledge was lost and I clawed at the rock to stay on by my fingertips. My commotion seemed to be heard by the girl...fish...person. She stopped yelling at the birds as I ducked as far as I found behind the rock. Why am I hiding from her? She can't do anything.

I heard a small thump and the flock of birds began chattering as they slowly flew away, slightly disoriented.

I craned my neck to watch them but all my thoughts were too jumbled by this person and my previous problems. Along with this pounding heart, I acquired a pounding headache.

_She was just a cosplayer without much sense to go for a polar bear dive. Yeah. That's it. But...It was so…_

"Wake up idiot. You're dreaming. You're hallucinating. This isn't real." I whispered to myself, putting my forehead against the cool rugged boulder. "This is something out of Lukas's fairy tales, this isn't real." I seethed through my teeth and opened my violet eyes once again. Everything was quiet. All I could hear were the now distant birds and the calmer waves hitting up on the beach rocks. Slowly, I heaved my body up inch by inch, turning my clammy fingertips white. I glanced over the top of the rock.

Nothing.

'_There.'_ I smiled. '_I was being dumb and let my anger get to my head. Nothing_.' I scrambled to the top of the boulder and crouched on my knees, looking at the soft sand beneath. I sighed and sat, letting my feet swing over the edge. I sat and stared at the remaining shores, the ocean to my left and the hills of slight green to my right.

Something tapped my boot sole.

I jerked my leg up and lost my balance. Just as any normal person would do, I panicked. Things don't just come and poke your foot when there shouldn't be anything down there. After losing my balance for the second time today, I fell the four or five feet to the ground.

I choked almost.

My stomach was in my throat and my lungs wanted to cough but there was no air inside. I gasped and pounded on my chest that didn't seem to want to work. When I opened my eyes, brown ones were staring onto my face with equivalent fear. The girl's eyes were bright but a dark caramel color. We watched each other closely, neither of us moving. I swore to myself if I woke up from this painfully vivid dream I would kill Lukas for telling me so many myths and fairy tales.

I noticed her teeth chatter slightly and her face shivered.

We both weren't breathing, I noticed.

"Qui êtes-vous?"


	2. 2) Don't go

_Thank you guest Ami :D Though I doubt I can live up to Prussia's awesomeness ehehe. This pair is too adorable. They don't have enough love in my mind -w- and yessss there will be more chapters~_

**Chapter 2: **Don't go

"Oui êtes-vous?"

These dark caramel eyes blinked back at me. Her teeth were straight and white and she had a small nose. I noticed her accent again, definitely southern European. French... I think?

I opened my mouth to speak back but stuttered. Maybe she couldn't understand. What was the point?

"Ég t-tataekki frönsku...F-French?" She blinked blankly. I cursed my insides for trying to communicate with someone who probably wasn't real. The girl sat up and I heard multiple splashes. I craned my neck and lifted my lead body up onto my elbows. My motion froze once again as I just stared at her. Her ehm, lower half, was slightly submerged in the dark ocean water and her shoulders were violently shivering.

_'Mermaid...there okay I said it.' _I whacked my forehead, startling my silent companion. "I'm going crazy."

The girl's eyes got big but I didn't notice. I stood as I spoke and rubbed my temples. There was this massive pounding and cracking that made each though feel like an earthquake in my brain.

"English. You speak English?" Those words certainly didn't come from my mouth. I stopping my pacing and stated at the mermaid below me.

"Y-Yes?" I crouched in the sand to be eye level with her and tried hard to look through her body. This should be a lucid dream. I'm in a coma or something. But I heard her teeth chattering together from the temperatures of the winter-spring ocean, her eyes were locked on me.

"I've never seen anyone with silver hair." She smiled and gripped her arms. As I watched her shake I found myself to be probably the worst person to walk the planet.

'_What would happen if she were real...and she went to an aquarium? How much wou-_' I slapped my face. Even if I may be dreaming, I was thinking of selling her. She was in an fairly unstable condition, and it would be easy to take her to a well-paying scientist or something. When I opened my eyes, the mermaid was looking oddly at me. What did she say last?...oh right, my hair.

"Right..." I had nothing else to say, but I watched her lips become blue and her face red. "Hey, um...are you cold?" I mentally kicked myself for such a dumb question. Of course she was cold, you idiot. The girl looked worried and down at the sand, nodding her head slowly. I found myself not thinking again and removing my brown jacket, leaving only a white shirt and my bow. When I held it out to the girl, she looked at the material as if it were a weapon from another planet.

"Take it. I don't need it...Oh my god I need to wake up from this dream." I was fed up with my brain trying to decide left or right. I was split two ways, one being to help this mythical creature and give in to your imagination. And the other said "Wtf are you doing? Go home." Guess which side won?

"Dream?...Wait! S'il vous plaît!" I was already on my feet and turned around when she said please. My brain kept making up excuses for these hallucinations. I was dehydrated, I ate some weird fish. Anything to tell my ears and eyes that this wasn't real.

As I walked I heard the voice behind me. She sounded desperate.

"Please! S'il vous plaît wait! I-I-I can't go back to the water. Stay here!"

I choked silently on my own spit but stopped in the sand.

"I-It's so cold and dark and lonely. There's no one else to be with. Even the fish around here are cold hearted. Please Monsieur...Don't g-go yet."

Lonely.

I knew the feeling all too well.

The mer-girl was digging her nails into the sand, with my jacket draped around her shoulders. Her lips were still blue but she had stopped shaking.

"I have to." I faced her one last time and stared into her bright brown eyes. They told the truth. No one was around her that she could connect with. There was no one to talk to or laugh with, no one to hug her when she needed it most.

I had once felt the same.

"M-Monsieur..."

"Listen..." I started. I felt my heart speed up and I ignored my conscience's commands. I made my decision and if I thought about it anymore I am sure I would change it in a heartbeat. "I have to go back...But you're welcome...welcome to come with me."

Since this time I was actually looking I watched her mouth change shape and her eyebrows knit in different ways. Un-hidden signs of thought. For a few moments it seemed as though she would say no, laugh at me for believing, and swim away. Her neck twisted and looked at the dark water while my eyes drifted up to the darkening sky. A few clouds had settled in, threatening an early spring storm.

"Oui." She said, smiling. The mermaid pulled my jacket tighter as a pre-gale breeze flew past. "Y-You won't...Sell me w-will you?" I was unaware that my mouth hung slightly open. I had thought of it.

A mermaid.

Think about how much media and biologists would try to get to her. I would be able to support my apartment. Maybe help pay off tuition...

When I was angry my older brother always told me to slip into someone else's body. Walk in their skin and their shoes. Think of their life instead of my own. Those people that could still stand after something tried to beat them down. He said they could do it I could too.

This 'girl' had no one else around it seemed, I wouldn't want the one thing I find to kill me off.

"Ekki. No, I won't." She smiled reassuringly at my small and simple words. The rest is all hazy.

Somehow she wound up with her arms hugging me tightly in fear, the bendable 'knee' part of her tail dropped over my left arm, and her back supported by my right.

I carried her off the beach, her shivering now apparent to my skin from the awkward close contact. I wanted to shiver in sync with her but hose it best to breathe deeply, she could here and feel my every move.

As I walked towards my apartment, my mind was swimming…I realized-

"What can I call you by?" She looked up at me with those caramel eyes. A small bit of confusion swirled in their candy like melting pot. "You have a name don't you?"

"Oh! Marie-Anne." She shook her head and squeezed some water from her long dark hair onto her body to stay soaked. "I am called Marie-Anne."

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A/N: I swear it'll pick up I'm so sorry.

_(Thanks for reading! Don't hesitate to point out problems or spelling/grammar errors~ I'd be happy to learn and fix them –G)_


	3. 3) Still here

_**((Me:hmm lets check fanfiction tonight. hey look at my old stor-wow...WOW I haven't updated in?...wOOOOW ...I am so so so so so s os o terribly sorry for taking the longest time in the world to update. But..here I am. So no hard feelings? Also:**__** question! **__**I've been reading and looking into a lot of things with Seychelles, and thinking that Marie-Anne isn't the best name :/ I'm totally up for suggestions to change it, please PM me or send a review :3 I read every one. Thank you for everything everyone!))**_

**Chapter three: Still here**

My eyes didn't snap open to the ringing alarm clock on my bed stand like they usually do.

I sat up in my bed and twisted the sheets around in my fingers. That was surely the most vivid dream I have ever had. I didn't remember much of it, but I certainly still have the main points. Sighing, I flipped the sheets off and smacked the top of my clock, turning off the blasted buzzer. I shuffled out of my room and down the hall into the small but comfortable kitchen. My head was lazy and my throat seemed dry from an awkward night's sleep, but coffee usually fixes that.

I started up the coffee pot, leaning back onto the counter. It was weird; not having my roommate home that is. He was always up a few minutes before me, already coffee in hand, sitting at the two-person table in the kitchen. Though, he had traveled back to his hometown this weekend, keeping a check on his dad and younger siblings.

I heard a strange noise from the other room and my dumb pet waddled into the kitchen, looking up at me. "Want breakfast huh?" I asked, not really expecting a reply from the bird. , which was obviously stated, is a puffin. He flapped his black wings in an awkward manner before lifting himself off the floor and onto the counter. "Hey! Shoo, shoo." I lightly swatted at the air by him, making the dumb bird hop from the counter to the table, creating an odd chainsaw like sound, I still call it a squawk. No pets on the counter though. Period.

Before I got his bite, I turned and poured myself a cup of coffee, adding the the correct amounts of sugar and milk. Puffin wouldn't leave me alone, and decided to continue making weird sounds and hopping on the counter only for me to look at him and jumping back onto the table. "Damn bird." I whispered under my breath, taking a can of tuna from the pantry. As I was looking for the can opener, a small 'clang' and an 'ow' came from the bathroom. That sure got my heart pumping. '_It's too early in the morning for this.' _I groaned to myself, though worried. Precariously, I took something sturdy from the kitchen as I walked down the small hallway towards the closed bathroom door. It happened to be the opener I was looking for and the can of freaking tuna. '_Nice choice, Emil._' I papped myself in the head as I opened the door, not knowing what I was actually thinking i was going to run into. Something probably just fell from the shower. Useless, useless, useless, useless, useless, usele-

"Bon matin! Good Morning!" I dropped the can on the ground and the speaker jumped a slight bit. The movement sent a small shock through the water the girl laid in.

Yup.

She was in the bathtub, filled with water... I stared at her, and she stared back at me. Those light caramel eyes blinked innocently and seemed to smile on their own.

"Y-You...Marie?" I found myself going through what I could remember of that strange dream. Well, apparently it wasn't a dream now. The girl nodded and smiled, her tail shimmered with the reflection of the bathroom light off the scales. The finned end twitched when I said her name. I looked at the bathroom and spotted my brown jacket neatly folded and set upon the commode. "I thought I was dreaming." I muttered to myself, in disbelief. This was it. A mermaid in my bathroom.

"Oh, I thought I was dreaming too." She tilted her head in thought and looked away from me. She didn't believe any of this either? "But when I heard you somewhere else in this dry grotto...I woke up and this funny thing fell from above." She pulled a shampoo bottle from the water that I hadn't seen before. I was right all along. "I knew right from the start that last night was real." We both stared at each other in an awkward silence. I might as well start believing what was in front of my eyes. I swallowed this weird lump in my throat and bent down to pick up the dropped can of tuna.

"I do want to thank you for bringing me ashore. I do not know how I drifted so far away." She laughed a little, embarrassed with herself. Suddenly, I was self-conscious about my appearance. My pajamas didn't include much besides boxers, socks, and a T-shirt, though Marie didn't seem to care.

When my hands wrapped around the tuna can, I felt her dark eyes on me. A soft rumble was heard from the tub as I stood, and I raised an eyebrow at my erm... guest. She smiled shyly and looked down to her stomach, a soft blush forming on her well-tanned skin.

"I guess my stomach isn't too happy with that." I looked back at the can and didn't actually sigh. I smiled actually.

"Hungry?" I sat on the closed lid of the toilet and hooked the edge of the opener I just happened to stupidly carry with me onto the can's lid. As I cracked it open and the tuna smell filled the bathroom air, I saw Marie's eyes grow slightly larger and she swallowed. When I took the lid off, I looked at the fish and held it out to the mermaid.

"When was the last time you ate anything?" She gingerly reached a dripping arm, but stopped, nervous to take the offering. "You can have it." She took the can, and smelled it with a strange looks. "It's tuna." I explained. She looked at me and back at the can, her blue tail flapped at the water's edge and the majority of her dark hair was submerged.

"I know what it is..." For a moment I was worried if this was considered a weird form of cannibalism. Do Mer-people eat fish? Or all they all strictly vegetarian? Do they only eat things like seaweed? "I've just never eaten it plain and bland." I kept my mouth shut from saying something dumb. Refined eating down under I suppose.

"Well, I was going to feed that to my bird. If you don't want to eat it h-"

"No! T-This is fine." She looked at me back in the eyes. I stood and rubbed my arm, have I told her my name? Should I tell her my name? Marie began to pick at the fish with her fingers, before dropping it in her mouth with a pleased smile. "Um...you can call me Emil." I figured she should have something to call me besides 'human' or whatever. "I'll just... go feed my dumb bird." I didn't want to leave, though I didn't want to stay either. A chainsaw squawk was heard from the hall, and I sighed. Marie looked shocked from the noise.

"Emil...What kind of oiseau is it? Bird, I mean." My name sounded funny along with her accent, but it went smoothly.

"Oh, he's your average Puffin." Speak of the devil. The black and white bird waddled into the bathroom and looked up at the female in the bathtub. Probably wondering what another "human" being was doing in the household. He eyed her curiously, probably could smell that I just handed away his breakfast.

"A...Puffin?" She reached her hand from the side of the tub and leaned her chin down on the cold porcelain, water dripping on the floor. A spec of tuna on her fingers, held out to the bird that moved his head back and forth to smell and see better. , to my amazement, didn't bite her finger but grab onto the tuna, and ruffled his feathers. Pushing his head into her hand much like a cat would, I think it was his way of acceptance. Marie laughed and patted his head before he waddled off again. "He's cute!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, well I'll go get him some food. He seems to like you." I was getting used to her giggle/laughs that surprisingly weren't annoying. I took the can opener with me and absconded the room. was at my heels the moment I passed him, and as we entered the kitchen, didn't get onto the counter like normal. "Here you go." I passed a new can of tuna down to his body. We kept plenty around. I reached for my coffee and took the warm handle of the ceramic mug. No class today. No worries. Well now there was the worry of this girl in my bathtub. No doubt she was real now. Seeing her made me somewhat lose my appetite for coffee, though if I didn't drink it I knew I'd crash sometime around two.

Taking a sip from the mug, I walked back to the bathroom. Marie was finishing off the tuna with her fingers. I guess she really was hungry. She smiled at me that silently got the message of 'thank you.' I didn't know quite what to say. What do you say to strange mythical creatures that crash at your apartment?

I sat on the toilet seat and took a swig of my coffee. Her arms crossed on the lip of the ceramic tub, water dripping lightly down the side. "Is it always this cold here?" Her thick accent broke the awkward barrier I entered.

"No...In the summer everything turns green and warms up." I thought about the rough waters from yesterday. It **was** still spring, and everything was thawing out from a harsh winter. After I finished speaking though, she was silent. She kept her eyes on me, watching my movements. I could feel her eyes burning into me. Not a harsh fiery gaze but more of a soft starlight. I wish she hadn't been watching me as I found my own gaze watching her blue extension.

It didn't fit all the way in the bathtub, the fanned tip hanging back over the length. Water dripped from the corners, where thicker pieces of the tail lined the outer edges of the thinner, lighter, webbing. It shined and looked slimy. The way snakes scales might. Smooth, yet you're able to trace and feel the ridges and outlines of each scale. I wanted to reach out and touch the blue shimmers. Make them ripple away like water. I felt my fingers jitter but didn't make another move towards her. As soon as I touched it, this whole thing would disappear into thin air and all I could do is wake back up in my bed with only silly memories to go off of.

"You're scared aren't you?" Marie's voice broke me from my not-so-subtle gazing. My eyes jumped back to her face, and glanced once more at her tail.

"N-no...about what?" I was being an idiot and got flustered. Marie leaned her elbow on the lip of the tub and flapped her tail, making light splashes. I don't care anymore how much water she got on the floor.

"You can touch it..." She pulled her arms back and sat herself up straight by pushing her hands on the floor. Her blue tail flapped once more, angling it perfectly so it was facing me straight on. I hesitated, but I lifted my hand, and she pulled her tail back a little. I jumped, a little shocked I suppose.

"...On one condition." Marie smiled softly. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity, but her mouth was smug. Her dark brown hair floated leisurely in the water's surface, causing small ripples around her skin. I couldn't tell what was going through her mind even if she told me flat out.

_**((Also If I havent messaged you a thanks please don't hesitate to talk to me! I lose track sometimes ^.^;;;))**_


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